9/11 attacks fail. Is there still a War on Terror

In a timeline where the 9/11 attacks are foiled (because the hijackers get busted by airport security/the US Air Force decides to shoot down the hijacked planes/etc), would there still be a invasion of Afghanistan and as a result, a War on Terror?
 

Cook

Banned
There wasn't one after 26 February 1993, so I'm betting no. You might, or might not, have seen a few air strikes on some remote suspected training camp somewhere, but otherwise it would have been left to the CIA and State Department to sort out.
 
If the hijacked planes had been shot down, that would have still been a pretty disturbing and traumatizing event - at least a couple of hundred flight crew and passengers dead, and possibly some deaths or injuries on the ground depending on where they're shot down and where the debris lands. Plus, there would be the psychological factor of a situation dangerous enough that the military ends up killing American citizens. I doubt it would have been as extensive, but I could see the U.S. still deciding to help the Northern Alliance and other Afghan opposition forces overthrow the Taliban, for example, or something like the PATRIOT Act passing (probably with less uniform support, though).

If the hijackers had just been caught by airport security or arrested before they got to the airports, then probably not, because it would have been seen as a sign that the safeguards were basically working, rather than that there was a need to ramp up anti-terrorism efforts.
 

Philip

Donor
(because the hijackers get busted by airport security/the US Air Force decides to shoot down the hijacked planes/etc)

USAF would not shoot down the highjacked planes until it is clear that they are weapons. This won't be clear until the planes are barreling towards targets in heavily populated areas. Even then, I suspect that the confusion would prevent the USAF from acting in time. Either way, there will be large loss of life on the ground.
 
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